Monday, March 18, 2013

Early Spring Blooms Of Kawazuzakura

"In the cherry blossom's shade

there's no such thing as a stranger."

Kobayashi Issa

Kawazuzakura (カワヅザクラ)
is known as one of the earliest variety of more than 200 varieties of
cherry blossoms to start to bloom in spring. Kawazuzakura was first
spotted in a little town called Kawadu in Shizuoka prefecture in 1955,
and that is how the flower got its name.

It
usually come to full bloom between late January to February, but just
like any other varieties of cherry blossoms, the peak period depends
very much to the weather and temperature. The flowers of Kawazuzakura
are pinkish and much darker than the more popular Somei Yoshino, but the flowering season is one month longer than the latter.

Keikyu Miurakaigan station.
It takes about an hour from my place in Kamata.

I
made a random trip to Miurakaigan in Kanagawa prefecture over the
weekend, as it was reported that a sakura festival is being held there. I
didn't put much hope to see the sakura in full bloom to be honest,
because I just got the feeling that the peak had passed several days
earlier. But the urge to see the first blooms of sakura somehow made me
making a one-hour trip there.

The
train was quite packed the whole journey and I assumed most of them
were heading to the same destination. When the train stopped at
Miurakaigan station, my guess was right; most of them got down there.

A signboard to welcome visitors to the sakura festivals.

Not exactly the main thing
we wanna see, but these stalls sell fresh vegetables at dirt cheap
price!

The first glimpse of Kawaduzakura at the station.

It
is estimated that there are approximately 1,000 Kawazuzakura cherry
blossoms trees along the railway line from Miurakaigan station all the
way to Komatsugaike Park (小松ヶ池公園), a stretch that is about one kilometer
long. Besides enjoying the early cherry blooms of this type of sakura
here, there are also tents sent up in front of the train station. Here,
the locals offer vegetables and local products, which are freshly
delivered from the nearby farm.

However,
the rain in January and coldness in February had relatively influenced
the flowering season, which delayed their blooming season by a couple of
weeks.

The rows of Kawazuzakura
along the railway line, on the way to Komatsuike Park.

There are also bright yellow Broccolini (菜の花) planted below the cherry blossom tree, which makes a wonderful combination with the pink Kawazuzakura.

A close-up shot of Kawazuzakura.

A second close-up shot of Kawazuzakura.

Hanami among the golden generations lol!

And lastly, a shot from the pond in the park.

That's
all for a short update on my first sakura outing this year. You can be
assured to see more of them coming up very soon. Thanks for reading and
stay tuned for the next update!